Healthy Diet

For the past three weeks we’ve been preparing for our fall gardening in Florida. We have a long term goal – to have thriving, organic vegetable garden beds in the next 5 years. John Jeavons biointensive gardening methods suggest that it takes several years to build up the nutrient density and organic matter of the soil to ensure an abundant bounty of fresh fruits and vegetables.

So, each season we meticulously collect all our kitchen scraps and turn it into compost. To give you some idea of how much compost 2 vegans can produce from their own kitchen waste - since this past spring, we have created about 5 three gallon bucketfuls of our own compost. Because of impatience and a desire to see at least some vegetables grow each season, we do amend the soil with organic gardening soil and compost/manure from our local hardware store or garden center.

Three weeks ago (8/15/09) I started seeds for Fall garden vegetables: Blue Hopi flour corn, butternut  squash, sugar baby watermelon, rhubarb chard, Pearson tomatoes, New Zealand spinach, eggplants, peppermint, and lemon balm. All seeds are open pollinated/organic seeds purchased from the Bountiful Gardens website. In one week most of the seeds had sprouted with a few exceptions:  The eggplant, peppermint and New Zealand spinach were slower to germinate.

At the end of week one (8/22/09), I carefully transplanted the sprouted seeds from the starter trays to small and medium size pots using Rockledge garden’s signature seed starter soil and my pricking tool from Bountiful Gardens website (this stainless steel pricking tool is very handy for easily lifting fragile seedlings out of their birth place and into a roomier pot where their life sustaining roots can spread out.) After only one week some of the roots on these tiny seedlings, like corn, were already 12 inches long. How amazing is that!

The following week (8/29/09), the end of week 2, the fall gardening beds were prepared with our own compost and amended with additional organic garden soil and compost from our local gardening center.   Corn was planted in stages. Some as seed sown directly into the ground and others from the seedlings started 2 weeks ago. Butternut squash and watermelon were planted together. The chard, tomatoes, New Zealand spinach (a perennial) need time to become more mature and established before they are strong enough to be transplanted into the fall garden bed. Their estimated time of transplanting is the third week in September. September also signals the time to sow other fall garden vegetables from seed: for our family that means lettuce, broccoli and parsley.

Fall gardening in Florida is the prime time for planting your vegetable garden – you still have some time to get your beds or growing containers prepared. So make a plan and get started.

Check back for more fall gardening in Florida updates!